American
Women!A Celebration of Our History
April 22 -- October 29, 2000

LAURA INGALLS WILDER
Frontier Author
1867-1957

"I
realized that in my own life I had seen it all.Then I understood that in my
own life, I represented a whole period of American history."

ANNIE
OAKLEYSharpshooter and Wild West Star1860-1926

"From the time I was nine, I never had a nickel
I did not earn for myself."

Americans still dream of wide open spaces and pioneer days. Here, an author
and a performer represent true western heroes.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's
"Little House" children's books have been enjoyed by hundreds of millions of
readers. The joys and sorrows of the Ingalls family are narrated by the author
(spunky daughter, Laura) as they homestead across the Midwestern frontier. Vivid
descriptions of woodland or prairie landscapes and pioneer life have made this
series a classroom standard.

Childhood was less
than idyllic for Annie Oakley. Born Phoebe Ann Moses on a farm in Woodland,
Ohio, she hunted, trapped, and worked in an asylum to help pay the family mortgage.
Oakley became famous when she joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Nicknamed
"Little Sure Shot," she thrilled audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe with
her fabulous shooting skills and stunts.

Several movies have
contributed to the Annie Oakley legend, and television boosted the popularity
of Wilder's books with the 1970s-80s TV show, Little House on the Prairie.
We will always think of these women as alive and free on the western plains

Historic Artifacts:

FOREIGN
EDITIONS of the "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder CHINA PLACE SETTING of Wilder's TABLEWARE used by Wilder POSTER for The Pioneer Girl, book by Bill Anderson about Laura
Ingalls Wilder, and signed by the author and illustrator.
--On loan from Bill Anderson, Lapeer MI

FIRST EDITIONS
of the "Little House" series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder MAILBOX of Wilder's used to contain hundreds of fan mail letters QUILT made by school children and presented to Wilder EYEGLASSES worn by Wilder CHAIR, mate to the writing chair of Wilder LAMP, silver kerosene, used by Wilder
-- On loan from the Laura Ingalls Wilder - Rose Wilder Lane Home and Museum,
Mansfield MO

DRAFTS
and MANUSCRIPTS of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series PHOTOS of Wilder
-- From the collections of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, West
Branch IA